Butterflies and Bottlecaps

This
was my first book with Eliza Clark. Melanie Colbert, the editor
at Harper Collins, contacted me and asked me whether
I would be interested in illustrating it, which, of
course, I was. Melanie liked the collage technique I
experimented with in the sample illustrations I showed
her; you can see that many of the butterflies and bottlecaps
in the book are cut out from magazines. The girl with
the butterflies is taken from a childhood photo of my
daughter, Zuzi, who is now 30 years old.
Butteflies addresses feellings that we all encounter when growing up: children are sometimes ashamed or embarassed about being different. We frequently want to be like everyone else when we are young so we can feel like we "fit in." In fact, I think this is true for many of us so-called "grown-ups."

In the story the girl with butteflies for hair complains to her mother that kids stare at her, and that she would rather wear bows and ribbons in her hair like everyone else. Yet she slowly comes to realise that what makes her different is exactly what makes her special. This allows her to see that her new friend, the girl with bottlecaps for hair, is also special because of her peculiar qualities.